Sun, 07/21/2024 - 1:30pm

Ed O’Brien

A boy and his dog enjoy the cool waters of Penobscot Bay (Photo by Tracee O’Brien)

A Glenwood kitchen stove and a scary looking pressure canner at the Schoolhouse Museum. (Photo by Ed O’Brien)

A boy and his dog enjoy the cool waters of Penobscot Bay (Photo by Tracee O’Brien)

A Glenwood kitchen stove and a scary looking pressure canner at the Schoolhouse Museum. (Photo by Ed O’Brien)

It is getting toward the end of July. The heat and humidity seems to have broken a bit, which is wonderful. One child is spending her days breading clams and washing dishes at McLaughlin’s at the Beach.

Another is cleaning masses of blueberries in a Lincolnville garage, running the winnowing machine, which is far advanced from the field winnowers I remember from my days of raking.

The third is picking up odd jobs where he can, hoping to save enough funds for his own PC, so he will not have to bargain with his sister for the use of hers.

And me, I am already thinking about ripe apples and pumpkins, cool air and my Halloween costume. I love the autumn.

I think of the people who came before in this little town. What this time of year meant for them. Local historian and amateur archaeologist Corelyn Senn, took slight umbrage to my characterization last week of Ducktrap as a “thriving little village”.

Lincolnville has never really thrived, at least, arguably, until modern times, when we were discovered as the wonderful little community that we are, generally by people from away.

What industry was here was hardscrabble. Subsistence farms with the occasional mill or quarry trying to eke out a living. What couldn’t be grown yourself would have been bartered for at the general stores or purchased on credit. Land foreclosures were common. And I have written before about how the population plummeted after the Civil War, as the children of townspeople sought a better life out west, or in the factories of Southern New England.

I suppose, in the years after the Civil War, July would have been a good time. The gardens would have been producing in abundance. No doubt every kitchen stove would have been fired up, as the massive canning pots preserved the bounty of produce for the lean times ahead. We all know jams and jellies, pickles and zucchini relish, but of course, in the days before refrigerators and chest freezers, everything was canned. I have a particular affinity for YouTube channels which document old ways of food preservation, even if I am not a huge fan of the actual work involved.

Should you drive the backroads of this town, there are many old farmhouses, dating back 150 years or more, in various states of preservation. At one point, every one of them was an independent business; kept running with a garden, modest livestock, and whatever side hustles kept the lamps lit. A night shift at the woolen mills in Camden, keeping the lime kilns fired, fishing, logging, caretaking, or a factory job in Connecticut or Massachusetts, depending on the era.

When my parents came upon this house on the top of Sleepy Hollow, it was a bit of a wreck, like so many farmhouses of the era. Classic New England poverty architecture, the original house was built out to meet the barn. Inhabited by my family for 50 years, it has continued to be expanded on; rooms added to the back, a dining room lined with windows added to the front, a vaulted living room in the barn loft, the second kitchen in the “porch ell”.

Life on the coast of Maine has never been easy. It is not easy now, particularly for those of us from here. We sometimes forget how isolated we truly are, far from the business, industrial, and tech centers. Vacationland means there is plenty of work in hospitality, but this rarely pays well, and certainly is not year round. A steady supply of visitors and retirees provides work for the building trades. A quick search of top paying jobs in Maine show that most of the work is either in healthcare or some variance of hospitality, in which I would include the building trades.

My parents were able to purchase this home for $15,000 in 1970, a sum that could only be afforded thanks to my father’s GI benefits. Take a look at real estate prices or available rents in the Midcoast today. Ouch.

For many, living in this little town on the Coast of Maine continues to be a hardscrabble existence. Side hustles and second jobs remain ways of life. But talking to, and reading the accounts of old timers, make it clear that we are at our best when we look out for each other, when we take care of our neighbors. Long time residents, new arrivals, and our summer people, working together to make this place a community where all are welcome and respected.

It is a time of deep division in this nation of ours. Find those things that bring us together, instead of pulling us apart. For me, it will continue to be this little place I call home.

Special Town Meeting

On Monday, July 22, the town is being asked to gather together at 6 p.m. at LCS for a special Town Meeting. We will be looking at whether to amend the town ordinance regarding floats and moorings at the harbor at Lincolnville Beach, as well as voting on the revised school budget recently approved by the School Board, and reviewed by the Budget Committee.

The Budget Committee recommended that the budget be approved as is, but the town meeting is the first place for the town to make its recommendations, which will be followed by a closed ballot at a later date.

I have seen that there seems to still be some confusion about the workings of small town democracy. Meetings by town committees and boards are always open to the public, and are announced on the town website municipal calendar at town.lincolnville.me.us, which I post weekly in this column as well. Should you desire, there is always a place to let your fellow townspeople serving on committees to know your opinion, and usually a place for you should you want to serve the town. Reach out to the Town Office for more information.

Another week has gone by, as we enter the height of the season. Enjoy it, we will miss it when it is February again. Grab some produce from your garden, or purchase some from one of the many local farmstands and support your neighbors. Make something delicious. And always, please be kind, be generous, be accepting. Take care of yourself and each other. Reach out at ceobrien246@gmail.com

CALENDAR

Monday, July 22

Lincolnville Historical Society Museum open, 1-4 p.m., 33 Beach Road

Special Town Meeting, 6 p.m. LCS

Select Board, 6 p.m., Town Office

Tuesday, July 23

Library open 3-6 p.m. 208 Main Street

AA Meeting 12:15 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Financial Advisory Meeting, 10 a.m., Town Office

Wednesday, July 24

Lincolnville Historical Society Museum open, 1-4 p.m., 33 Beach Road

Library open 2-5 p.m.